Talkin’ in the Free World EP. 3 – Bill Browder on Holding Oligarchs to Account

This program was originally recorded as Democracy Matters on February 8, 2022.

Mariam Memarsadeghi interviews Bill Browder, author of Red Notice, investor, and anti-corruption activist, to discuss the role of sanctions in influencing oligarchs. Mr. Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005, when he was denied entry to the country and declared “a threat to national security” for exposing corruption in Russian state-owned companies.

In 2008, Mr. Browder’s lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, uncovered a massive fraud committed by Russian government officials that involved the theft of US $230 million of state taxes. Sergei testified against state officials and was subsequently arrested, imprisoned without trial and systematically tortured, dying after one year of imprisonment in 2009. Since then, Mr. Browder has sought justice outside of Russia and started a global campaign for governments around the world to impose targeted visa bans and asset freezes on human rights abusers and highly corrupt officials. The US, Canada, the UK, the Baltic states, the European Union and most recently Australia have passed their own versions of the Magnitsky Act.